Battlestar Argo
by AJ Marks
Part 35: Trails of War
Ares glanced down at his desk. Things had become real hectic since the ambushed meeting. There was open hostility between the government and the military. It was really hard because most of the people were supporting the military and not the government. Many were starting to question the government’s willingness to protect the population.
General Pakrov had turned command of the fleet back over to Ares saying that he didn’t want it. Ares had a feeling that he would need someone like the general and kept in on board the staff. The destroyer Puma had been finally completed but there was no sign of the Arbus lately. Ares was not sure if that was good or bad news.
He had a feeling that they were up to something else. With Pakrov’s help they had been quietly searching the area where the Arbus transmissions had come from in hopes of finding what it was. So far it had been silent lately. There was a few communications to Earth but there was no way of telling who else had picked them up.
With Bri’s idea in his mind he had only told those who he felt he could trust. General Pakrov, Senator Sam, Robert were a few who he had told. He had deliberately kept it from the council. He was sure that they would say it was his imagination. He had the feeling that he was up against a cleaver foe. The only thing that helped them out was the fact that their technology was a bit superior to the Arbus’.
Now they were in a waiting game for what would happen next. There was a lot of preparation to do especially when they did not know who they could trust. They also had to instruct some of the people in what to expect especially if one of the new ship captains was a human clone.
“The Puma is coming along,” Reliy said to Ares. Reliy was another person that they felt they could trust. He had proved himself in battle against the Arbus and had fought back. That was important in this war.
“Yes, we’re going to be giving you command of the Puma full time as well,” Ares said. He knew that it was not fair to have the man in command of the Tiger during a battle then take away his command.
“It should be easier than the Tiger,” Reliy said. He had wondered how long it would take to receive a command. He had really thought that he had proven himself to the others and was a bit disappointed when Commander Pratt had taken the Tiger over again.
“That’s true, but it’s still a command,” Ares said to him. “We’ll be constructing more ships and there will be more room to expand for experienced captains.”
Reliy knew that the commander was telling the truth in that. He had no doubt that if he stayed alive and did his job that he would receive command of a larger ship as well. They were already working on a new shipyard orbiting Centari One and plans were now going ahead for a shipyard on Earth.
*****
Weaver walked over to where his station was. He was back on Centari One after the quick recall to the Argo and then a brief stop on Earth. Now he was back where he felt his home was, on Centari One. People were still working having not stopped even in his absence. That made him proud.
“What do we have people,” Weaver asked the group as they gathered around for their annual meeting.
“Nothing much doctor,” one of his assistances said. “We’ve been working on that found starship but so far work is still going slow.”
“To be expected,” Weaver said. “What about the test for the s-metal?”
“Every test confirms what the original test reported,” the aide said.
“I see,” Weaver said. It meant that they had a bit of a problem. Commander Ares had already asked for the next ship to be constructed normal without the s-metal. “Let’s continue working on it until we have strengthened the metal enough to make it usable.”
The group broke up and Weaver walked over to the consol to write up a brief report to sent to Ares. Looking at the computer he noticed that the report from the Colonies had arrived. He scanned the report to see what had happened lately. The news was the same and filled with recent battles against the Cylons. There was also a report of a new council member elected to the Council of Twelve. A man named Baltar and a list of what the man had done recently.
Closing the screen he turned to back to his lab to see what else he could work on.
*****
Troy and Bri walked back to their quarters. They had spent the day training the new recruits. They were trying to build up a few squadrons of vipers to put on Earth’s surface for defense until a few more ships were ready. On Centari One they were constructing the facilities to house a large group of permanent viper squadrons for defense.
“Is it just me or is this war a crazy mixed up war so far,” Bri said as they walked into their quarters.
“Nope, it is a bit crazy so far. I don’t know what else is going to happen,” Troy said. Some of his visions had come true now there were a few others that still had to come about if they did. He had one that he hoped would not come true at all, that was the one of the fleet being destroyed.
“So what is next,” Bri asked.
“Well if everything goes well, they will be starting another Tiger class ship, this one will be constructed out of normal armor. Apparently there is a flaw in the s-metal,” Troy said.
“I heard,” Bri said. She hoped that it was not too much of a flaw as it did give them an advantage in combat.
“Well Doctor Weaver is working on it,” Troy said. “That and he’s still trying to find out what secrets that discovered ship has to reveal.”
“That will be interesting,” Bri said.
“That will be,” Troy said. “Don’t think that there is anything that we’ll be able to use but you never know.”
“Some sort of secret weapon on board,” Bri asked.
“I doubt it, but I think it might tell us a connection between Earth and Kobol,” Troy said. “The language is similar to the one on Kobol and apparently one used on Earth.”
“Egi-Egyped, something like that,” Bri said.
“Egypt, I think,” Troy said. “Yeah apparently its an old language on Earth.”
The room suddenly became bathed in red as the red alert went off. They both looked at each other before Bri heaved a sigh and they ran to their vipers to see what was going on.
*****
“Commander,” Renee said from where she was sitting. “Scanners indicate incoming Arbus ships.”
“How many and what type,” Ares asked as he and Reliy shared a look.
“Two, one appears to be a scout ship the other an attack class,” Renee replied.
Ares knew that in a straight battle the battlestar was the more powerful ship and could take on several attack class ships. He wondered what their plan was this time. Only two ships would be easily handled by the Tiger not to mention the Argo.
“Sound red alert,” Ares said. He did not want to get caught just in case. “Get me General Pakrov as well.”
It did not take long before the general was on the screen. He asked what was going on.
“We have two ships heading this way. The Argo should be able to handle it,” Ares said.
“Do you want us to scramble the viper squadrons on the ground,” Pakrov asked.
“No, I would like to keep that a secret for now,” Ares said. “The less they know about our abilities the better it will be for us.”
“I understand,” Pakrov said.
“But do have them on standby just in case something else happens,” Ares said to him.
Pakrov replied that he would and left Ares to head up the fleet to defend the planet.
*****
Troy and Bri made it to their vipers and were told which groups would be launching. Of course green squadron was one of the squadrons to be launching. It did not surprise him at all at which squads were launching. The other squad was still undergoing training and was not quite ready for combat if they could help it.
“Everyone ready to go,” Troy asked the group. They all replied that they were as they went to climb into their vipers. Everyone had their own pre-battle jitters as they prepared to launch. There was always the possibility of losing someone in the battle.
Back at the colonies new recruits were not really talked to that much unless they survived a few battles. Then if it looked like they would stick around the other pilots would welcome them in. The Argo had been a bit different. They were not sure how long they would be together so the friendships formed and held still.
Troy heard the coordinates where his squad was to head to after launching then was given permission to launch. His viper was thrust out into space as he was pushed back into his seat. Once out the rest of the group formed up on him as he turned the group in the correct direction.
They could see two ships on their scanners. One ‘Attack’ class which would probably be dealt with first. The scout ship probably did not pose much of a problem. It did not take long before the groups engaged. Two Arbus ships against one battlestar.
“Captain, do you notice anything odd about the way the scout ship is flying,” Bri asked Troy as they were fighting the other enemy fighters.
“No, of course I haven’t looked either,” Troy said.
“It went right by us, but it isn’t headed to Earth,” Bri said making Troy look down at his scanner. He noticed that Bri was correct in what she was saying.
“Green leader to Argo,” Troy said not having to wait too long until he heard Renee’s voice.
“Argo here, what’s the problem captain,” Renee asked.
“We’ve noticed that the Arbus scout ship has refused to engage us at all and is headed towards the Argo,” Troy said. “They might be trying to ram the battlestar.”
“I’ll let the commander know,” Renee said.
*****
Renee spun around to the commander after she heard what Troy had told her. If they were trying to ram the Argo then they might be in danger.
“Commander, we might have a problem,” Renee said.
“What’s wrong,” Ares asked hoping that whatever was going on was not that bad.
“Green leader thinks that the Arbus scout ship might be trying a suicide run at us,” Renee said.
Ares looked down at his scanner along with Regil who was beside him. Looking at the ship he noticed that the course was indeed straight to the Argo. It was something that he was not sure he liked.
“All weapons fire on the scout ship,” Ares said.
The Argo’s weapon systems opened up on the scout ship with the accuracy that had been honed with centuries of warfare against the Cylons.
“This is going to be close,” Regil said as he watched what was going on the scanners.
“Yes it will. Helm, change course to oh-one-five,” Ares said as the battlestar began to turn a bit “Increase speed to flank attack speed.”
The crew on the bridge raced around trying to keep up with the commands that were coming from the commander. They all knew what was at stake this time and hurried hoping that they could will the ship into making the turn and speed increase faster.
*****
Troy watched as the battlestar made a turn in an attempt to put some distance between the two ships. He could see the weapon systems firing on the scout ship and wondered how much more the Arbus ship could take. He had just thought that when he noticed the beginning of an explosion on the scout ship.
It did not take much but once the explosion started it was big. To Troy the explosion was much bigger than a normal ship explosion. He would have to talk with a few others to confirm his suspicions that the ship had been packed with explosives.
It was then that he noticed that the Argo had gone silent. There was nothing coming from the battlestar and he wondered if the ship had been damaged in the explosion.
“Green leader to Argo come in,” Troy said receiving no reply.
The debris cleared a bit and Troy was a bit glad to see that the Argo was still there but did not know how much damage it had taken.
“All vipers, concentrate you’re fire on the Arbus weapon and propulsion systems,” Troy said. “Bri you’re with me, we’re going to mop up these fighters right now.”
“I’m right behind you,” Bri said as they flew into the battle once more.
Troy knew that if the Argo had been damaged then it might not be enough to defeat the Attack ship. If they could knock out enough of the weapons and propulsion then they stood a better chance for the Argo to survive the battle.
The fighters of Green squad raced towards the Arbus attack ship with a vengeance. No one wanted their ship to be destroyed. It was home for many of them and a way back home as well.
Troy was glad when he noticed that the battlestar was began firing again at the attack ship. It meant that they were still in the fight.
“Green leader to Argo,” Troy said one more time.
“Argo here, what’s the situation captain,” the reply came back. “The explosion sent out a heavy EMP pulse to our ship and knocked out the systems. They are coming back on line right now.”
That was a large relief to Troy. That meant that the Argo was not out of the fight. He turned back to his task at hand for the fight. There was still a lot left to do against this attack ship. Troy did not have any doubts about victory against the Arbus ship he did not want the Argo to suffer any more damage.
“Attack ship is suffering damage,” Troy heard Nall say as he went in for another attack.
“Yeah, looks like its weapon systems are heavily damaged. There is not a whole lot of return fire coming from it,” Troy said as they continued to attack the ship.
The damage finally became too much and the ship exploded effectively ending the battle. There were still a few fighters that they had to finish up with but the battle was now over.
*****
“Arbus attack ship destroyed,” Reliy said.
“Good, I want a damage report sent to my office right away,” Ares said then turned and went to his office.
The battle had been closer than he had thought. If they had not figured out that the scout ship was on a ramming course it might have destroyed the Argo. Even then it was something they had to keep in mind for future battles. They had neglected the EMP pulse against their ships but it was something that they had. It was time to put that back into play. It would especially come into play if they encountered the Cylons again.
Sitting down at the desk another question came to his mind. How many ships did the Arbus process and had they encountered their most powerful ships yet. So far about twenty attack class ships had been destroyed along with several scout class ships. He wondered how hard the Arbus fleet had been hit.
The Arbus also worried him from the prospective that he did not know who could have been cloned. That was really true after the invasion. There was no telling how many had been replaced with clones. The damage report did not take that long to receive and the news was better than he had expected.
The landing bays were fully functional as were the weapon systems. The blast wave had damaged a few of the computers on board but were in the process of being repaired. He was glad to hear that the news was good. He had been sure that the ship had taken more severe damage after being knocked out for the short while. There were reports of some of the s-metal coming off the ship and would have to be replaced.
That would be why the ship had been hit more than usual. The Arbus were able to lock on to the Argo a bit better with the reduced stealth factor. The next step was to increase the fleet. He wondered how long they had to build up the fleet. Now all he had to do was head on down to the Earth council and reprot to them again. He was not sure that he trusted the people in the government yet. There was still some reluctance to understand that they were at war.
*****
Troy sat down with Bri and Nall who were already doing their familiar banter. From what he could tell Nall was smiling while Bri was frowning. He could tell that Nall had not disturbed Bri too much yet as Nall was not in pain yet.
“So, what did you ask my wife this time,” Troy said as he sat down.
“Nothing much, just some details,” Nall said with a smile. Troy could only guess that it had something to do with Bri’s sex life.
“Some,” Bri said as her eyebrows raised to her hairline.
“All right, all of it,” he said with a smile as Troy rolled his eyes at the two. It should disturb him that Nall was so interested in his wife’s sex life because it was also his but it did not. It was strange as when they were bantering it was like it was someone else and he was just along for the ride.
“Pervert, how does Rebecca stand you,” Bri said exasperated.
“Quite well thank you,” Nall said with a wiggle of his eyebrows as Bri groaned.
“So where is Rebecca,” Troy asked.
“She’s on duty right now,” Nall said. “She’s been practicing a lot with Renee lately to get the hang of the job.”
“I see,” Troy said.
“Then I’m going to ask them both if they want to have some fun,” Nall said.
“What would Rebecca say,” Bri asked.
“I’m more concerned about Renee than Rebecca,” Nall said.
“Great, he found his soulmate,” Bri said.
“I guess it takes one to find one,” Troy said with a laugh as Bri glared at him as well.
“I was worried when that scout ship exploded,” Nall said.
“I think we all were. But I will say that I’m very glad that I don’t have to go down to talk with the council,” Troy said.
“Ugh, from what I’ve heard its a mess down there,” Nall replied.
“And with this clone situation it only makes it worse,” Bri said.
“I think we know each other well enough that we know how the others will act in a time of danger,” Troy said indicating everyone who was from the Colonies.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Nall said. “I think many of us want to see the Colonies again.”
“I heard that Commander Ares might send a ship to the Colonies to inform them of what is going on,” Bri said.
“I heard that as well, but he cannot afford to part with many people,” Troy said.
“What about the Hermes. It’s fast enough to head to the Colonies and back again,” Bri said.
“The engines could be modified some more and we could refuel again once we reached the Colonies,” Nall said.
“But then it comes down to who to send,” Troy said.
“That I don’t know,” Bri said.
“We should approach the commander about this. He might have an idea,” Nall said.
The all agreed. The commander would know who to send more than they would.
*****
Ares walked into the council room where the Earth government was holding another long meeting. He noticed that Sam and Robert were both there. Both men appeared to be frowning at whatever had gone on this morning.
“Commander, glad you could make it,” Ares heard General Pakrov say behind him. He turned to see the general walking towards him.
“General, how are things going,” Ares asked.
“Not well. The council is determined to see that we are defenseless against the Arbus for some reason,” Pakrov said.
“Then we go around the council,” Ares said to him.
“You are reading my mind commander,” Pakrov said.
Ares smiled at Pakrov. The more he got to know the man the more he liked him. He was someone a lot like him. Suspicious of everything around them and never took anything at face value. He was also someone who understood what they were up against. When Ares had told him about the clones the man paused to think about that. He also wondered if he might be a clone. That was why he had deferred the military back to Ares.
“Ah, Commander Ares so good of you to join us,” the President said.
“Always a pleasure,” Ares said with a forced smile on his face.
“Of course, now I hear that there is more news,” the President said.
“Yes, the Arbus recently attacked us again,” Ares said. “This time they are using suicide ships to knock out our ships. I think we have time to increase our fleet defenses but we must act now without delay.”
“Act now, for what,” the President asked.
“Our enemy has suffered some losses, how badly I don’t know. We might have limited his ability to create war against us for a short time but it won’t last forever. We must build up our own forces for when they come back,” Ares said.
“So you say,” the President said.
“If we delay we could lose this war,” Ares said.
“Lose the war. According to you we are winning the war,” the President said.
“With no help from you,” General Pakrov said. “You put me in charge of the military then tie my hands with idiots who know nothing about the military. Then you criticize me when we rescue our forces from an ambush which you sent us to.”
“What are you saying,” the President said his eyes narrowing.
The general reviewed his last words carefully. “Interesting,” he said finally as the council had grown a bit quiet. “I find it very interesting that you get defensive when I bring up what you’ve done yet think nothing about criticizing the military regardless of how well it performs. It’s almost as if you’re a clone.”
“You had better tread carefully general,” the President said.
“He’s right though. You’ve blocked everything that might help us while helping the Arbus, why,” Ares said slowly walking towards the President.
A few others were also thinking about it from Ares could see. The President meanwhile was becoming angry with what was going on.
“And here I thought that I could trust you general. I see that I will have to rectify the situation,” he finally said.
“What situation,” Ares asked. “We have been attacked by an alien race for unknown reasons. So what is this situation that you have to rectify?”
“I will not discuss this with you,” the President said.
“Then how about me,” one senator said. Ares was a bit surprised when it was not Sam. “I would like this situation explained to me as well.”
Ares looked around noticing that it looked like the President was losing support.
“Perhaps you are a clone,” another senator said. That comment sent the entire senate into an uproar. This was a problem in Ares’ eyes. Who was a clone and who was not? Was there anyone on Earth who was a clone?
“Quiet,” Sam’s voice said over the crowd. “I have a proposal,” he finally said over the crowd. “We vote on a new president for now.”
“This is outrageous,” the President said.
“Sir, we are at war, we need to act like we are at war, not friends with the Arbus,” one senator said. “You have been acting like their friend.”
Several other senators nodded at her statement. They finally got the vote done which removed the current temporary president and now they had to vote on a new President.
“So, when will the voting take place,” Ares asked.
“Next month if everything goes well,” the general said.
“Maybe then things will flow smoother,” Ares said. “I know this is not what I came to talk about.”
“I know, we still have to begin building a fleet,” Pakrov said.
“More than you know,” Ares said causing a glance from the general. Ares could only wonder what was going to happen if the Cylons became involved at all.
End of part 35